The Republican/Michael BeswickThe African Hall Subcommittee of the Springfield Museums present the 20th annual Ubora Award to Albert Y. and Mrs. Geraldine H. Garner Saturday night at the Museum of Fine Arts. The Garners formed a local chapter of the Partnership in Math and Science (PIMS) program for African-American students.

SPRINGFIELD – Ubora and ahadi are Swahili for excellence and promise, and on Saturday night, three African-American residents who personify those words were honored at the Springfield Museums.

Albert Y. and Geraldine H. Garner were the 2011 recipients of the 20th annual Ubora Award, and 17-year-old Bria L. Brantley received the third annual Ahadi Youth Award.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno referred to the Garners as a “renaissance couple” and declared Saturday Bria Brantley Day in Springfield - she previously interned in his office. Sarno said the Garners and Brantley are symbols of positivity in the city.

The Garners moved to Springfield in 1956 when Albert was hired as a research chemist and Monsanto; after five years, he was transferred to Ohio, but the couple returned to Springfield in 1984, and in the late 1990s, they formed a local chapter of the “partnership in math and science program,” which was a summer camp for African-American children that was offered until 2001. It was run out of the basement of the Alden Baptist Church, and Geraldine Garner said children particularly enjoyed doing the experiments. She and her husband taught at the camp, as well as volunteers.

“Parents are still coming to use and telling us how those summer weeks changed the life of their child,” Geraldine Garner said before the awards ceremony.

Geraldine Garner also joined the local coalition of the state Department of Education’s parent involvement program, linking that program with the math and science effort in Springfield.

“I still think parents should be involved in their children’s education . . . There’s more work to be done,” Albert Garner said.

After they received their medals and plaque, Albert Garner told the crowd that they were “deeply blessed, deeply honored and deeply flattered.”

The Republican/Michael BeswickRuth Bass Green performs at the presentation of the 20th annual Ubora Award Ceremony Saturday night at the Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield.

Brantley, a freshman at Brandeis University and 2011 graduate of the MacDuffie School, was recognized for making a positive impact on the greater Springfield community, as co-founder of “Giving Ways to Enhance Our Neighborhood,” which held backpack and food drives and donated school uniforms to those in need.

The Republican/Michael BeswickThe African Hall Subcommittee of the Springfield Museums presented the third annual Ahadi Youth Award to Bria Brantley, a Springfield resident and freshman at Brandeis University.

Before the ceremony, she said it felt great that other people appreciated her work.

Denise Jordan, Sarno’s chief of staff, introduced Brantley, saying she was known as “breezy” in Sarno’s office.

“She came to our office as a junior and we were astonished at how mature she was. She came in and just took over,” Jordan said.

Jordan said Brantley helped a woman who had no money to send her grandchildren Christmas presents - the woman contacted the mayor’s office. After Brantley contacted her mother, there were so many toys and clothes that they had to donate the overflow to the Department of Social Services.

“That’s the kind of young lady Bria is,” Jordan said.

The ceremony was sponsored by the African Hall Subcommittee of the Springfield Museums.